These past couple weeks, I added 2 more Texas State Parks to my map!
Tyler State Park
Our adventures started out with a bang like they always seem to do. We left for our first of two stops Thursday afternoon once Chris got off work. It was only a 2 hour drive and our only rule is to get to our destination before dark… which we didn’t anticipate being a problem. Well, we were wrong! It was one unfortunate even after another the minute we pulled up to the park.
Let me tell you, we have been doing this state park thing for a while both here in Texas and back when we were living in Georgia as well. I would say that 90 percent of our leisure travel has been State Parks! I’m no newbie but Tyler State Park sure knew how to make me feel differently about that statement.
In order for you to feel the effects of my unfortunate events, it is important for you to understand a few MAJOR details! My RV is 35 ft long, 13.5 ft tall, and 8 ft wide… My Truck is 22ft long! My combined length is over 50 ft long!!!!! and if you know anything about Ford F350s, you know their turning radius is an absolute joke!! No lie, it takes me 3.5 lanes to make a u-turn and I’m just talking about the truck by itself… this does not include having the RV attached. Now, I’m not sure what my turning radius is with the RV attached but I know its more than 3.5 lanes.
Unfortunate event #1… Tyler State Park has 4 lanes when you pull up to the gate. Credit to them, they did have a sign about which lanes were meant for what but it was below the stop sign and you couldn’t read it until you had already full pulled forward and stopped. Well, you guessed it, I was not in the RV lane… but, I was also THE ONLY PERSON THERE and it was 8pm! The Park Ranger came out and promptly told me that I was in the wrong lane and needed to use the U-turn to exit the park and then use the next U-turn to re-enter and pull into the correct lane before they could check me in. I laughed and said “are you serious” and they very seriously said yes. It was getting late, and dark so I reluctantly obliged. Remember what I said about the difficulties of U-turns with such a large setup. I squeezed my way through, rubbing the curbs and the tree limbs but we slowly (and I mean, very slowly) made our double u-turn so that we could pull into the correct lane for check-in. The Ranger came back out and by then our tension was pretty high due to the maneuver we just had to perform (seemingly for no reason). We asked him why that was necessary and the risk of damage to our rig was really high. We were told that they are a VERY (and he exaggerated “very”) busy park and they need to keep the RV traffic clear of the day-use traffic. Then he laughed and said, “I know it doesn’t look it now because its getting pretty late but we are a VERY BUSY park”. Right, I was the ONLY ONE CHECKING IN!!! The place was a ghost town and their office and day-use entry was closing in 30 minutes anyways!! INSANE that common sense went right out the window.
Unfortunate event #2: after the u-turn fiasco, I was finally able to check in… Upon checking in, the Ranger told me that my registration was in the system backwards and that I had my RV registered first and my tow vehicle registered second. When I made my Texas State Park profile, this is how it was entered and it has NEVER been an issue. I have camped at more than 5 state parks in the last 6 months and never been told this was an issue! The Ranger proceeded to cancel my reservation and have me re-do it “correctly”. 15+ minutes just to check into a State Park! For reference, I usually get checked in in less than a minute and never have to leave my truck… They come to me, grab my ID, go back and check me in and print my permit, and come back and say I’m good to go.
Unfortunate event #3: By this time, It was getting pretty late and a storm was brewing!! The clouds had rolled in and we hadn’t even made it to our campsite. We made our way to our site, pulled in and were working to get ourselves level when a monsoon of a storm started to beat down on us. We disconnect the RV from the truck and hit the Auto-Level on the RV to get it to do the rest of the leveling itself only to have it fail. By this point, we were drenched, couldn’t see a thing because it was so dark, and said, “screw it, we will live with it the way it is for now and fix it tomorrow”.
Outside of our disaster check-in and set-up process, Tyler State Park is a summer campers dream location! If you are into kayaking, paddle boarding, or just like to go for a swim, Tyler State Park surrounds the Tyler State Park Lake! This Lake is a “non-motorized” lake and is the perfect spot for all your water activities… and is alligator free! There are also plenty of hiking and mountain bike trails to keep you busy if water just isn’t your thing (like me)!
The camping gets a bit crowded in these summer months and the day use areas can be packed, so make your reservations early! If you are seeking more solitude on your State Park Adventures, this is definitely not the place! You may want to consider coming in the cold winter months when the water activities are not a big attraction.
But even with the large crowds, I still found moments of peace and enjoyed my week relaxing in my hammock and catching up on my summer reading!
Caddo Lake State Park
Caddo Lake State Park!!! Now, this is my kind of State Park!!!
Upon check-in, I again got a lecture about my registration being backwards but did not make me correct it… Like every other state park (besides Tyler SP), she was able to print my permit no problem. (I will go into my profile and see about correcting this but my goodness… I had no idea this was an issue until these last 2 State Parks) As we pulled around into our campsite, I immediately knew this was going to be one of my favorite State Parks!!
We were the only campers during the week, but even as the park filled up for the holiday weekend, it was still quiet and peaceful!
It had been a long time since I got my camera out, and this Mill Pond less than half a mile from my RV was the perfect spot to watch the sunrise!
My parents joined us on our Caddo Lake State Park adventure later in the week, and they (unlike me) are HUGE fans of kayaking… So, I ended up renting a canoe from the state park and spent a couple hours on the water.
And these couple hours were quite the adventure!!
We took Watson with us and this was his first time on the water… He HATES water, doesn’t like to swim, dislikes baths with a passion and Yes, we forced him to go canoeing with us. He actually did pretty well! He was anxious and nervous at first but quickly settled down and just watched the world go by.
He would walk to the right side of the canoe and look out, then some minute later would walk to the left side of the canoe and look out… once he finally had enough of the sites, he found himself a comfy spot and slept a while.
Caddo Lake IS known to have alligators, so it is a swim-free zone! Although we didn’t catch a glimpse at the resident gator, we did see other beautiful wildlife who call this place home.
Between the sites and the wildlife, I took more pictures on my phone and camera than I can post!! But, here are a few more than made my favorite list!
Now, I LOVED Caddo Lake State Park… but I will never return here in the summer!! It is, again, a cold winter destination for me! The bugs were vicious!! Biting sand flys, ticks, yellow jackets, spiders, chiggers… I’ll be coming back but it will most definitely be mid-winter next time!
With the end of this adventure, we now head into prepping for our trip to the East Coast!! We will be adding Solar to our roof and finishing another stage of our RV solar set-up! We hope to also get a few projects done around the barn before we head out! Only a few weeks until our next great adventure!!
Keep following along as a document our RV life and travels along the way!!
